Government leaders in the Marshall Islands are calling for the evacuation of the capital building in the wake of recent engineering reports saying its a hazard to its occupants.
More than three years after engineers first said the President's Office and other areas of the capital building are a potential hazard, major renovation work still has not started.
Some of the problems highlighted were falling concrete and rusting steel decking above the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The new Public Works Minister, Kejjo Bien, says it needs to relocate the President's Office.
The new government, which came into office in January, says it has just become aware of the engineering reports from mid-2007 that called for immediate action.
But engineering reports on the state of building go back as far as 2004 and even then immdiate action was called for.
Last year, government architect, Herc Lagunay, said it was urgent to revisit an engineering report prepared by New Zealand-based engineering firm Beca International.
He also expressed worry that if there is extensive damage in the steel decking, this could put in danger the users of the building.
The capital building was completed in 1993.